§ 95. Christ appealed to the Miracles as Testimonies; John, xv., 24.—Three different
Stages of Faith.

Although Christ appeals (in John’s Gospel) to the miracles as
testimonies of his works, we are not to understand him as appealing to them
simply as displays of power, for the grounds already stated. Yet he does, in
more than one instance, declare them to be signs, in the world of sense, of a
higher power, designed to lead minds as yet unsusceptible of direct spiritual
impressions, to acknowledge such influences. “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,
they had not had sin.”210210John, xv., 24.

In viewing the miracles thus as means of awakening and strengthening
faith, we must distinguish different stand-points in the developement of faith.
On the lowest stage stood those who, instead of being drawn by an undeniable want
of their spiritual nature, inspired by the power of God
working within them, had to be attracted by a feeling of physical want, and by impressions
made upon their outward senses. Yet, like his heavenly Father, whose
providence leads men to spiritual things even by means of their physical
necessities, Christ condescended to this human weakness, sighing, at the same
time, that such means should be indispensable to turn men’s eyes to that which
lies nearest to their spiritual being. “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.”211211John, iv., 48.

A higher stage was
occupied by those who were, indeed, led to seek the Messiah by a sense of spiritual
need, but whose religious feelings were debased by the admixture of various sensuous
elements. As these
139were yet in some degree in bondage to sense, and sought
the Saviour without perfectly apprehending him as the object of their search, they
had to be led to know him by miracles suited to their condition. Such was the case
with the Apostles generally, before their religious feelings were purified by continued
personal intercourse with Christ. He condescended to this condition, in order to
lead men from it to a higher stage of religious life; but yet represented it as
subordinate to that purer stage in which they should receive the whole impression
of his person, and obtain a full intuition of the mode in which
God dwelt and wrought in Him. Jesus said unto Nathanael, “Because I
said I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater
things than these. Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”212212John, i., 50, 51.

A far loftier stage of faith was
that which, proceeding from an inward living fountain, did not wait for miracles
to call it forth, but went before and expected them as natural manifestations of
the already acknowledged God. Such a presupposed faith,
instead of being summoned by the miracles, rather summoned them, as did the
pagan centurion whom Christ offered to the Jews as a model: “I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel.”213213Matt., viii., 10.

It appears, therefore, that Christ considered that to be the
highest stage of religious developement in which faith arose, not from the
sensible evidence of miracles, but from an immediate Divine impression finding a
point of contact in the soul itself—from a direct experience of that wherein
alone the soul could fully satisfy its wants; such a faith as testifies to
previous motions of the Divine life in the soul. We have an illustration in
Peter, who expressed his profound sense of the blessings that had flowed to him
from fellowship with Christ, in his acknowledgment, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”214214Matt., xvi., 16, 17.
This acknowledgment itself might have been made by Peter at an earlier period; but
the way in which he made it at that critical moment, and the feeling which inspired
it, showed that he had obtained a new intuition of Christ as the Son of
God. It was for this that Christ called him; “blessed,” because
the drawing of the Father had led him to the Son, and the Father had revealed himself
to him in the Son. Peter made his confession, at that time, in opposition to others,215215Matt., xvi., 14.
who, although they had a dawning consciousness of Christ’s higher nature, did not
yet recognize him as the Son of God. The spirit in which
he made it is illustrated by a similar confession made by him in view of the
defection of many who had been led by “the revelation of flesh and blood” to
believe
140in Jesus, and had afterward abandoned
him,216216John, vi., 66. for the
very reason that their faith had so low an origin: “Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe, and we are sure
that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”217217John. vi., 69.

And so, when Thomas doubted, Christ condescended to give him a visible proof of
his resurrection;218218John, xx.. 27.
but at the same time he declared that that was a higher faith which needed no
such support. but rested, with undoubting confidence, upon the inward experience
of Divine manifestations. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed.”